Go to Sheffield and imagine a sheet of crucible steel six feet long and eighteen inches wide. Transport it to Birmingham and cut it into strips, put them into iron boxes and place them in an oven. This is the first phase of the production of a pen nib.
In 1913, one thousand, five hundred million pen nibs were produced in Birmingham. By 1988 this figure was down to just over a half million - an indication of changing fashions and development of writing implements. As Fleet Street was associated with newspapers, Birmingham was associated with pen nibs; and what better place to see every variety than the Pen Room.
The Pen Room is based on a collection donated by Charles Thomas. There are over ten thousand items divided into some twenty five display cases. The collection was displayed, on loan, in the 1960's. Its success led to one extension, then another, and finally the collection became a permanent exhibit alongside bicycles, copying machines, locomotives, aircraft and engineering items.
The pen collection has raised two mysteries: World production of pen nibs in 1865 was one thousand, one hundred and fifty million; world population in 1865 was estimated to be one thousand million, with a low level of literacy. What happened to all the nibs?
The second mystery is more of a technical problem for the Museum. The collection also includes examples of handwriting styles from many different world languages and alphabets. One framed page of Eastern Asian writing features in one display - no-one apparently understood what it was. The problem was resolved in a way, by turning the page upside down every other year, thus ensuring that it was displayed at least 'half' correctly!
The display cases are divided into these themes: Pocket Writing Sets; Pen Knives; Pen Machines; Near East; Middle East; Far East; Fountain Pens; Pens; Quill Pens; Cuneiform Tablets; Calligraphy; Steel Pen Nibs; Pen Nibs; Foreign Nibs; Writing Implements; Pounce Boxes. Writing accessories include spectacles, seals, pen wipers and paper weights. The museum gives a sharp reminder that the desk accessories of today are quaint pieces of nostalgia. The paper weight for example was a functional piece of equipment, not just to stop papers from blowing away; large scrolls that were unfolded needed to be weighed down in order to be read or altered.
It you find yourself on a desert island with no pen or paper, create a waxed diptych: take two pieces of wood the size of a paper-back book, and cover them with wax. Closed together to carry, and using a blunt stick to write, you have a memory-jogger in your pocket. Or you can do the same thing with slate. These two items are on display.
Wet ink has always been a problem. A method to resolve this was blotting paper. But Pounce boxes were big business before that. Pounce boxes contained a powder or sand, which was sprinkled over the wet ink. Only here can we appreciate why literacy levels were so low in years past - it must have been too much trouble to put pen to paper!
The handwriting specimens are examples of period and cultural writings rather than school copy books. A book of shorthand produced in 1772 shows the unique nature of the exhibits.
Birmingham's special role in the writing business is celebrated by a beautiful arrangement of steel pens. This was put together as a promotional display by one of the two local companies who were Brandauer and Gillott.
The Second World War gave us an innovation that not only helped the war effort, but has helped aviation and shipping since. The development of the Magnetron for airborne radar took place here at Birmingham University by a researcher named Sayers. There are copies of Sayers' handwritten notes on this development, displayed at the Museum.
James Watt came from Glasgow and made his unique engineering mark on Birmingham. His products are here, and over 40,000 examples of his letters can be found (undisplayed) at the Central Library near to the Museum. His small handwriting was most certainly that of a researcher. In the example reproduced here (not in this extract), we find a busy upper zone, fascinating 'd' and word-finals. The specimen shows us how little writing style has changed since the 1700's.
Reading and links
The Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association http://www.penroom.co.uk
Copyright 1988 - 2003 by Nigel Bradley. First published as: (1988) Places of Graphological Interest: Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry. Graphologist, (Winter), 6(4):21-24
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